Sammy Smyth (loyalist)
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Sammy Smyth | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1929 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Died | (aged 46) |
| Cause of death | Assassinated by the Provisional IRA |
| Political party | New Ulster Political Research Group |
| Military career | |
| Paramilitary | Ulster Defence Association |
| Conflict | The Troubles |
Samuel Smyth (c. 1929 – 10 March 1976) was a Northern Irish loyalist activist. A founder member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) he was the early public face of the movement as the organisation's spokesman, and he later became involved in the group's attempts to politicise. He was assassinated by the Provisional IRA during the Troubles. Author Steve Bruce described Smyth as the "sometime editor of the Ulster Militant and a loose cannon who enjoyed an exciting and erratic relationship with the UDA".[1]
Smyth was a native of Louisa Street in Belfast, a loyalist interface area street which linked the Crumlin Road to the Oldpark Road and which faced "the Bone", a Catholic area at the bottom of Ardoyne.[2] According to Smyth the area was regularly attacked by republicans from Ardoyne throwing nail bombs and shooting, and that in response he organised local men into a vigilante group. The group erected barriers on Louisa Street although these were removed by the British Army, which had a base in the area.[3] In his youth he had worked at Harland & Wolff shipyard.[4]
Smyth attended and addressed meetings at Aberdeen Street school on the Shankill Road which were organised by Alan Moon, who had a similar group in that area. Several of these groups from across Belfast met and agreed to pool their resources, leading to the formation of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) in September 1971.[5] Smyth, who was a community worker in the Lower Oldpark area and who was considered articulate, was the first public spokesman for the new movement. His first engagement came in 1972 when he appeared, wearing a mask, on a television debate with John Hume, warning him of a "Protestant backlash" against the recent formation of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).[6]
Smyth's rhetoric at this time was noted for its extremism. He reacted to an interview with Dáithí Ó Conaill published in the press by stating "at that moment in time I could have, without a twinge of conscience, bombed every well-filled chapel in Belfast".[7] He also edited a news sheet entitled Ulster Militant which urged war on republicans and their "passive sympathisers" by the emerging UDA.[7] The journal also repeated claims, which had initially appeared earlier in the Protestant Telegraph, that the Easter Rising had been personally blessed by Pope Benedict XV as well as allegations of Smyth's own devising that the green, white and orange colours of the Flag of Ireland had been chosen to represent the Papacy rather than Thomas Davis's desire that Protestant and Catholic should unite in peace and that James Connolly, the socialist activist whose Irish Citizen Army had taken part in the 1916 Rising, had been ordained as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church.[8]
All of this was despite the fact that Smyth's previous community work had seen him participate in a number of projects involving Catholics and Protestants, particularly with regards to housing.[6] As chairman of the Lower Shankill Community Association he had even spoke at events at University College Dublin and University College Galway.[4] He briefly enrolled at Queen's University Belfast around 1974 as a mature student but did not stay long.[4]
Decline in influence
Smyth took up the cause of recruitment for the UDA, and travelled around Belfast and beyond securing new members for the organisation.[7] However he was seen as lacking any military ability and as the UDA increasingly moved from vigilantism to sectarian killings his input became less important and he was sidelined.[7] His position of leadership had effectively ended by 1973, by which time other early leaders such as Jim Anderson, had also been pushed aside with power lying firmly in the hands of Charles Harding Smith and Tommy Herron.[9]
As the UDA's public spokesman, Smyth was a prominent figure in the May 1974 Ulster Workers' Council strike and he produced the daily bulletin of the Ulster Workers' Council (UWC) for the duration of the strike with Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party politician David Trimble.[10] Following the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, which were carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) during the strike, Smyth told the media "I am very happy about the bombings in Dublin. There is a war with the Free State and now we are laughing at them".[11] The outcry which followed Smyth's statements on the bombings saw him disciplined by the UDA – in the form of a punishment beating – before being formally removed as UDA spokesman.[12]